let's get it straight
the new guys aren't disappointed, a few might be and they're the only ones who post. you've got to remember that pprune is an internet forum, and like all other internet forum people generally only post when they're pissed off with something. it's like the old business idea- if someone's happy with an experience they're likely to tell 1 person, id they had a bad experience they're likely to tell 5. the total cost is around 19000GBP and on top of that there's accommodation and travel expenses. the pay starts off relatively poor. you can expect to earn a total of 18-19000GBP for the first year, and that starts from the base check (so no pay during the training). ryanair are now offering bond packages to more experienced pilots that aren't type rated, bonding for 5 years. with new more efficient middle management employed, gone are the days of waiting months for base checks and line training. pilots are online a couple of weeks after completing their base check. ryanair took alot of abuse in the past and possibly rightly so. it now seems that they've started addressing these issues. there's always going to be pilots annoyed and frustrated with the company they work for, that's life.
to answer the other questions that are popping up that i also wanted answered before i started:
papazulu - the wait can be any amount of time before you're contacted, especially now they've decided to stop interviewing cadets. it seems to be around six months, although they will now have a backlog building up. it will, like any other HR department, be expedited if you contact them or even better if you know someone
738-jockey couldn't be more right. get in the sim, i would suggest parc aviation in dublin, a guy called adrian, he's very good at getting you trained for the sim check. get the boeing CBT, you'll soon realise it's got more holes in it than bush's brain after a week of your TR groundschool, but it's a good start. then definitely get the PMDG for flight sim, it's an add on that has an extremely accurate 738 cockpit- although not the winglet ryanair aircraft, (and also no aft overhead panel that i could find?- anyone any help on that?)
good luck to you all, Bbear